# Biocompatible strain sensors for continuous monitoring of tumor progression during immunotherapy treatments

> **NIH NIH F32** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $64,554

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract:
Checkpoint inhibitor therapies provide the ability to treat several previously intractable tumor types; however,
only a fraction of patients eligible for the medications respond favorably. Currently patients receiving these
treatments must undergo a series of costly imaging sessions to determine their tumor’s response to the
medication, yet imaging only provides a static picture of the disease. Health care professionals often wait months
before ordering imaging sessions in order to ensure that meaningful tumor growth or recession has occurred
according to the iRECIST criteria. The goal of this proposed research is to develop an implantable strain sensor
to continuously monitor tumor size throughout the treatment and provide clinicians and cancer researchers with
the ability to monitor tumor kinetics. We plan to treat a mouse model for mammary cancer with a combination
immunotherapy treatment and use our sensor to continuously detect minute changes in tumor size. We will then
look for trends in the data that may provide clues of a positive response, especially within the first 48 hours after
treatment when immune cells are known to infiltrate the tumor and cause it to temporarily expand. We hope that
this new technology will be used as a method for clinicians to more accurately determine the best time to take a
follow up CT scan, and we also believe that this technology could be used to study the relationship between
molecular signals and tumor progression. However, in order to develop this type of sensor, we must overcome
two fundamental design constraints: the large size associated with power storage and wireless data transfer;
and the ability for a sensor to grow and conform to rapidly expanding tissue. Part of the proposed research is to
develop a platform technology for transferring power and sensor readings conductively through the body, thereby
eliminating the need for a battery and telemetry system and shrinking the device size significantly. We also plan
to utilize flexible and stretchable electronic materials developed in our lab to design a device which can expand
alongside tissue without exerting any force that could damage the surrounding tissue. We believe that these
technologies could be used for a variety of purposes in addition to measuring tumor size and could enable to
widespread routine clinical use of implantable biomedical sensors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9991396
- **Project number:** 1F32EB029787-01
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Alex Abramson
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $64,554
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-08 → 2022-05-07

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9991396

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9991396, Biocompatible strain sensors for continuous monitoring of tumor progression during immunotherapy treatments (1F32EB029787-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9991396. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*